Home > Promising Practices

Promising Practices

The Promising Practices database informs professionals and community members about documented approaches to improving community health and quality of life.

The ultimate goal is to support the systematic adoption, implementation, and evaluation of successful programs, practices, and policy changes. The database provides carefully reviewed, documented, and ranked practices that range from good ideas to evidence-based practices.
Learn more about the ranking methodology.

Submit a Promising Practice

Search Filters Clear all
(29 results)

Save a link to this search

Ranking
Featured
Primary Target Audience
Topics and Subtopics
Geographic Type
Search

Reach Out and Read: Washington, D.C. (Washington, D.C.)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / Literacy, Children, Adults, Families, Urban

Goal: Reach Out and Read prepares America's youngest children to succeed in school by partnering with doctors to encourage families
to read together.

Baby, Be Safe (Washington D.C.)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Prevention & Safety, Children, Families

Goal: The goal of Baby, Be Safe is to increase the use of child injury prevention measures.

Impact: Participants who received tailored educational materials reported greater adoption of home and car safety behaviors than those receiving generic information. This study offers promising findings to help prevent injuries to young children.

Carrera Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program (USA)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Urban

Goal: The Carrera Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program's goal is to provide comprehensive youth development services and reduce teen pregnancy among economically disadvantaged teenagers.

Impact: Pregnancy prevention programs can work successfully among females when started early in adolescence and when male counterparts are also educated appropriately on condom-use and delayed sexual actively onset.

SIDS Risk Reduction Training for Child Care Providers (Washington, D.C.)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Adults, Women, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The objectives are to increase knowledge of SIDS risk reduction strategies, including sleep position, use of cribs (instead of adult beds and couches), and elimination of bedding.

Impact: Childcare provider behavior related to safe sleep practices can be improved from short, in-person targeted educational sessions.

SIDS Risk Reduction Training for Parents and Family Members (Washington, D.C.)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Children, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The objectives are to increase knowledge of SIDS risk reduction strategies, including sleep position and roomsharing without bedsharing.

Impact: A 15-minute educational session with small groups of parents is effective in informing parents about the importance of safe sleep position and in changing parent behavior for at least the first 6 months of the infant's life.

Affordable Housing in Arlington, Virginia (Arlington, VA)

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Housing & Homes

Goal: The mission of AHC is twofold: to preserve the supply of affordable housing in the mid-Atlantic region, especially Northern Virginia and Baltimore, Maryland; and to ensure that properties developed or owned by AHC enhance the quality of life in the neighborhoods where they are located.

Arts Olympiad

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Environmental Justice, Children

Goal: To enhance academic performance and imbue global citizenship by nurturing children’s creativity, developing empathy, and instilling healthy lifestyles.

Brainfood (Washington, D.C.)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Teens, Urban

Goal: The goal of Brainfood is to engage young people in healthy, creative cooking activities to build life skills and promote healthy living.

Bridges . . . from school to work (Washington, D.C.)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment, Children

Goal: The Foundation's mission is to foster the employment of young people with disabilities.

Children's National Parish Nursing Program (Washington, D.C.)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Children, Teens, Families, Urban

Goal: The goal is to increase awareness in faith-based communities regarding preventative care for children and services available at Children's National Medical Center for patients and families.

Impact: The Parish Nursing Program will train eight nurses to become Faith Community Nurses in Summer 2013.

An Effective Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success and/or promise in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures of improvement in outcome of interest (i.e. increase in voter registration, not just delivery of voter registration drive) and/ or the outcome measure is increased or improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant.

A Good Idea meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program funding source, program implementation steps and outcomes.
  2. The program evaluation is limited to descriptive measure(s) of success/accomplishment (i.e., program participation rates, number of services/education sessions/radio messages provided). Note: oftentimes, the program has been newly implemented and a program evaluation has not yet been conducted. Programs that have not yet been evaluated, but which show promise in improving health or quality of life, are classified as Good Ideas until an evaluation is conducted.

An Evidence-Based Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures showing improvement in the outcome(s) of interest after the implementation of the program (i.e. increase in smoking cessation, not just the delivery of a smoking cessation program). The outcome measure(s) is/are compared at relevant time periods before and after the intervention or program implementation. Alternatively, the evaluation study compares the outcome(s) between an intervention group and an appropriate control group.
  3. The study is of peer-review quality and presents numbers in a scientific manner; measurements of precision and reliability are included (e.g. confidence intervals, standard errors), results from statistical tests show a significant difference or change in the outcome measure(s), and relevant point estimates and p-values are presented. Note: if the results from an evaluation of a program are presented in a scientific manner and the outcome measure is improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant, the practice is classified as effective and not evidence-based.